


Home Away From Home

by Rubywolfsbane



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Bi main character, Cheesy romance, Dealing With Loss, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Non-Binary OC, Peter Parker is in University, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Endgame, University, dorky Peter Parker, not an au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-03-08 22:04:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18903544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rubywolfsbane/pseuds/Rubywolfsbane
Summary: Peter Parker doesn't know what hits him (literally) the day he finally meets the gorgeous girl in his natural science class, that is until things get a little awkward. She has a need to protect everyone she meets and he's not sure what to make of it because in any other situation, this would be hella weird. Where will things go from there?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Alright so this is a new fic I'm starting. I hope you enjoy it. This will be a happy ending eventually but I'll be writing as i go with this so feel free to comment and let me know what you want to see. This is posted first on my patreon, two days before here for all patrons and I will try to upload weekly-bi weekly.

Rain. All it had done in the past three days was rain. It was making the world seem grey and gloomy, which was rather out of the norm for early September. Then again, September was a month of flip-flopping weather. 

Rose sighed, looking out the main doors of the music building as the rain subsided to a fine mist. 

“Guess this is the best chance I’ve got,” she muttered to herself as she pushed through the doors, a plastic clipboard over her head to save her from getting completely soaked. 

She glanced down at her watch, grimacing as she looked at the time. She had better hurry or she would be late. It wasn’t like she hadn’t been late to the last three lectures, this one wouldn’t make a difference. Or it wouldn’t if she had actually made it.

Just as she rounded the corner of the natural science building, she crashed into someone; someone lean and tall (at least to her) who let out a small yelp as they fell back into a puddle. Rose found herself stumbling into a puddle herself, her left foot and calf getting soaked completely and the clipboard she’d had in her hand landing beside her. 

“I’m so sorry, I should have been watching where I was going,” she said, quickly. 

The person she had collided with looked up at her, mouth flapping as if trying to determine what to say. His brown hair was curling around his forehead from the rain and his brown eyes were open wide.

“I’m Peter…. Parker,” he said, carefully. 

“Hi Peter Parker,” She said with a grin, her hand held out to help him up.

He took it after a moment, a smile spreading over his face, though he was soaked nearly head to toe. 

“I am really sorry,” she said again, a pink flush dusting her cheeks, warming her face despite the cold. 

“It’s alright,” he responded, still smiling as he picked up her clipboard. It had started pouring again, and she felt her clothes and hair getting more and more soaked as time went on.

“Come on, we’re going to get sick if we stay out here,” she said, pulling him into the covered doorway to the nearest building. 

“I know you, don’t I? Do we have class together?”

“Maybe? I don’t spend much time outside the music building?”

“Well, you looked like you were in a rush somewhere that is very much not the music building since that’s the other way. You weren’t heading to Physics For Future Leaders were you?”

She eyed him carefully. He did look somewhat familiar, but she couldn’t really place him. She wasn’t one to be active outside of the arts contingent in the school. 

“I was, but I guess I’m not going now,” She said, feigning disappointment. “Oh well!” She said with a smile.

He chuckled, shaking his head. “I knew it. You sit in the back usually, typing away. I’ve seen you a few times telling off people for talking.” 

At that, she blushed again, though now she was starting to shiver; the university had yet to turn off the air conditioning. “I mean, we pay for those classes. I want to be able to hear the professor, not some jerks talking about soccer and videogames.”

“Of course.” His arm came around her shoulders, rubbing her upper arm as if trying to warm her up. “We should get some dry clothes.”

“Ya, come on. My dorm isn’t too far, and we’re already wet. No point in taking the long way inside.”

“Uh…” he almost looked uncomfortable, as he removed his arm from around it and used it to scratch the back of his neck, but she wasn’t having it. 

“Come on, you’ll get sick otherwise,” she said, taking him by the wrist. His face went red, but he nodded. 

And they were off, headed in the direction of the arts dorm. They rushed through the rain, though they were already soaked through to the bone, like fish her grandmother would have said. 

They made it to her room in record time, though they had left a wet trail behind them throughout the building. She pulled her key out, swiping it against the door and pushing it open with her shoulder. She had managed to smudge the whiteboard on her door, but that was the least of her worries right now. She beelined for the closet, pulling out two towels and some grey sweats. 

“Here. You can dry off with this and these are probably the only pants I’ve got that will fit, but at least you can dry off and wait out the rain. I can throw your clothes in our dryer if you don’t have anywhere to run off to?”

She had phrased it as a question, but she knew that their class would run for the next two and a half hours. She watched him as he floundered about in his thoughts before he nodded.

“Bathroom’s down the hall, third door on the left,” she instructed as she ushered him out of the room. She ducked into her closet space, pulling off the wet clothes and making a pile on her chair. She was sure that if she made it on the floor, she would be smelling mould from the carpet for weeks, not that she didn’t already. There was everything and more on that carpet, and she preferred to just not think about it. 

Peter pushed his way back into the room, wet undershirt still on, starting to soak the waistband of the sweat pants. Her eyes opened wide as she realized she must have forgotten to pull out a shirt. In a flash, she was rifling through her drawers, pulling out an XL t-shirt she had won at homecoming that she had yet to wear. 

“I probably should have given this to you earlier,” she said with a blush. She took the wet clothes from him and her from the chair, without thinking of the undershirt he still had on and rushed out of the room with a quick “I’ll go throw these in the dryer.”

She was flustered. She didn’t want him to think that she had intentionally not given him a shirt because she wanted to see him topless. Not that she was nervous about seeing people topless. How many times already this semester had her best friend and her cuddled in her room watching shitty movies after having come in from the rain together, much like what had happened just now. She was usually calmer than this. 

She leaned against the now running dryer. Why was this any different? Maybe because he had seemed so flustered about it, it had rubbed off on her. But why had she offered to have him stay? Why had she brought him back to her dorm? It’s not that it was something out of the norm for her to do, but that didn’t mean she should be doing it for just some stranger. She shook her head as if to clear it. 

“It doesn’t matter. It’s just like any other person at any other time. Besides, he’s not a stranger. We have class together.” 

She straightened up with that comment to herself, sending a quick text to the one other person she knew in her physics class to have them send her the notes. This would be fine. She would play it cool, despite the thumping in her chest. She would go back to her room, sit him down and have an actual conversation with him. She could do this, without seeming weird.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of angst, a non-binary character and some Uno playing because Uno doesn't know how to play their own game properly. Also, cute nickname for Pete, yes please.

She continued her pep talk as she made her way down the hall back to her dorm room. By the time she reached her room, she was calm again. She flashed Peter a beaming smile when she noticed him scrambling from a reclining position on her bed. His face was pink with embarrassment, but she waved it off.

“Get comfy, if you want. I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable dragging you here,” she said, rubbing the back of her neck, never letting her smile fall. “You don’t have to stay, I just wanted to make sure you wouldn’t get sick. Oh, and I got someone to send me the notes for class today so I’ll share them with you when I get them!”

He nodded, his smile growing as he relaxed back on the bed, though he did look a tad stiff. She took that as he was going to stay for a bit. 

“So you’re a music major? Or do you just hang out in their building?” Peter was grinning as he watched her plop herself on a pile of blankets on the floor near the bed, a little makeshift nest.

“Born and raised. My grandpa always played the piano at family gatherings before my parents split and my mom was a huge classic rock fan. Between the two of them, and my own interest in singing, I don’t think I had any other destiny.”

Peter nodded at that, getting a far away look in his eyes, before returning to the land of the living with a smile. It was only a split second. Had she not been looking at him, she would have missed it. 

“What about you?” She asked curiously. The course they shared wasn’t one that most people chose as a general education course.

“Chemical Engineering. If all goes well, I’ll be done in a few years.” 

“That’s an interesting choice. Lots of jobs in that now that the world is rebuilding.”

“Actually, I’ve got a job already, with Stark industries. I knew Mr. Stark… a few years ago and we kind of had a plan already laid out.” He took a deep breath and began fiddling with the comforter, having shifted onto his side at some point. 

She gave him a knowing smile, putting one of her hands over his, in a gesture of comfort. “Tony Stark was a good man. You’re going to do great with whatever you put your mind to.” 

He nodded slightly, but there wasn’t much confidence in his eyes; the only thing she could read in them was some terribly masked sadness and loss. 

She had to think quick. She knew what those feelings were like, and sometimes a distraction was just what was needed.

“Did you want to play Uno? I mean I know it’s kind of lame but it’s something to do!” The words rushed out toward the end, but she knew that if she put on a movie or something, he would be able to stew. At least something competitive like Uno should be able to keep his brain occupied and not think about the fact that she had brought up something that was clearly hard for him to talk about. 

“Sure!” he said, his smile half returning. She liked that, being the reason people around her smiled. 

She pulled out her deck of Uno cards and they began to play, at first arguing about the minor rules, like the skipping the turn after the pick up two cards, but they quickly reached the agreement that the company that made Uno didn’t know how to play their own game based on a tweet they had made saying you couldn’t stack cards. 

After nearly an hour and a half of playing, they were both laughing and each had half the deck in their hands. One of Rose’s neighbours knocked on her door, pushing it open a little. 

“Rose, is that your stuff in the dryer? It looked like one of your shirts.”

“Ya, Andy. I should go grab that! Thanks so much,” She said, making a one minute gesture to Peter and putting her cards down as two blondes ducked out of the room together. Andy gave her a suggestive look, but Rose just snorted and brushed them off. 

Andy was a new friend of Rose’s, and sometimes they were a handful. They meant well, but sometimes they thought they knew best when really Rose just needed to go at her own pace.

“Movie later if cutie isn’t still around?” They said, their hands up in a surrendering gesture.

“I’ll send you a text later. I’m sure we’ll be able to,” she said with a laugh and went to retrieve the clothes from the dryer, which proved to be longer than just the minute she had gestured to Peter, as she got stuck talking to one of the other people on her floor that she wasn’t exactly fond of. 

As she returned to her room, she closed the door fully this time, leaning against it with her eyes closed. She was done talking to people. She couldn’t remember why she had decided to live in residence instead of in one of the nearby apartments.

“You alright?” Peter’s voice came, bringing her out of her own mind. 

“I’m fine, sorry that took so long.” She dropped the clothes on the bed, picking out her few things. 

“No worries.” He grabbed his things, piling them beside him on the bed. “You going to come and finish losing this game of Uno or what?”

Up until that point, she had figured he would take his clothes and run, but he actually wanted to stick around. She was surprised and almost positive that it was showing on her face, even while she took her cards back up into her hands, but she couldn’t let him get away with that comment. 

“Maybe I just don’t want to make you feel bad when I win again,” she said with a grin, putting down several cards at once. “You’re up, pretty boy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual, this updates early on my patreon at RubyWrites. Let me know what you want to see.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose and Peter hang out and things get a little awkward?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This update is a little longer than usual. Enjoy! And as always this updates first on my patreon at Ruby Writes.

They continued to play for so long, by the time they looked out the window, it had stopped raining and the sky was darker than it had been. Rose looked at her alarm clock on the desk behind her and made a noise.

“It’s already 8, what the hell?” She commented, confused as to how so much time had passed. 

“That’s why I was starting to get hungry,” Peter said with a smile as he put down his cards and stretched his arms above his head. “Should we go grab some food?”

At that exact moment, her stomach made itself known with a roar. Rose felt her face heating up as Peter fell over laughing. “I’m going to take that as a yes,” he said, between fits of laughter. 

The night was rather uneventful from there. Once they got dinner at the cafeteria near her building, they went their separate ways, Him presumably back to his dorm and her back to her room to catch up on the work she had missed. She sent a quick text to Andy, saying she wouldn’t be able to watch a movie that night after all, and all she got in reply was a winky face, to which she replied with a picture of her homework and the caption “nice try.”

And that was it for the week. Rose had sent a follow over to Peter’s instagram, which he had accepted quickly, but then, nothing. He wasn’t in their class later that week, and he wasn’t really posting on social media, so Rose figured that was the end of it.

The weather had been nicer the following days, with the weekend being the first nice one they had had in awhile. Rose had considered going out to the quad to read, but she didn’t want to have people walk by and distract her. 

As she was mulling over how she could spend this nice day, there was a knock on her door. It obviously wasn’t Andy, because they had a free pass to come in whenever they wanted. She almost didn’t answer, but the person knocked again as she was considering it, so she figured it must be something important. 

The door swung open to reveal a grinning Peter Parker, with something that looked suspiciously like a makeshift picnic basket. 

“So, it’s a nice day out, and I thought you might want to enjoy it since they’re calling for rain again this week. Do you want to come hang out in the park with me? I’ve got sandwiches and cookies.”

“What kind of cookies?” Rose replied, with a pensive look on her face. If he had seen the smile in her eyes, he would have been able to tell she was just playing him. She had enjoyed his company before, why not hang out with him again?

“Chocolate chip.” His smile grew a little, and her face shifted from faux-pensive to a smile of her own. 

“I guess I can join you,” she decided, faking coy. “Let me grab a jacket.”

“Great!” He said, waiting for her to grab a jean jacket off the back of her desk chair before moving out of the doorway, to let her through. 

After she locked her door, they were off toward the park that was on the far side of campus. On a nice day like this, there would probably be tons of people there. They would be lucky to get a spot under a tree in the shade, though there was a nice breeze bringing the temperatures down, so she figured it would be fine to sit in the sun too. 

“How did you know I hate the rain?” She asked him as they were walking. 

He shrugged. “It’s not a far leap when you consider how distraught you looked when we got caught in it last week.”

“Ya, that makes sense.” 

There was a comfortable silence as they walked, until Rose decided she needed to open her mouth and break it. 

“Why weren’t you in class this week?”

“Oh, I just... had something I needed to take care of for Stark Industries.”

“Oh, right, of course. I should have guessed. Did you need notes?” She wouldn’t have offered, had it been anyone else. She was always very cagey about her notes, otherwise people would take advantage of her for them.

“I think I’ll be okay,” he replied with a smile as they entered the lush green field that marked the edge of the park. 

The walk hadn’t taken as long as she thought it would, but she had been right about it being busy today. Every tree had at least one group of people under it and there were a few groups of people playing soccer and frisbee. It looked like that event on Facebook called “sit under a tree on campus with my multicultural group of friends.”

Peter walked toward the far side of the field, making sure to avoid the groups of people playing, ducking out of the way quickly when a rogue frisbee almost hit him in the head. Rose gave him a strange look when he turned back and awkwardly smiled back at her, laughing nervously, but she shrugged it off. 

At the other end of the field was a line of trees, marking the edge of the grass, but Peter kept walking further into the ravine area.

“Where are we going exactly?” She asked him as she cleared the tree line, following him, watching her steps more carefully now to ensure she didn’t trip.

“The park looked a little busy, I figured we could go somewhere I know down here.” His smile was contagious but Rose was starting to get nervous. A boy taking her into the forest, he was probably going to kill her and hide the body, or worse.

“I don’t know if this is such a good idea…” She said, softly, her thoughts getting the best of her. She barely knew him, why was she following him through what was basically a forest, away from the big group of people who probably wouldn’t be able to hear her scream. 

“Come on, it’s not much further. You’ll see.” He was still smiling, and he held his hand out to her, motioning forward. 

She took the last few steps toward him, everything inside her screaming that she should leave, but then she noticed sunlight and grass growing in patches, which she would have noticed if she hadn’t been stuck in her own mind. She pushed through the canopy of trees and found the edge of a river, which was rushing fast past where she stood, and rays of sunlight coming down around them. The ground was covered in rocks, grass and moss, and in the patches of sunlight, spots of colour dotted the grass where wildflowers had sprang up. 

“I told you it wasn’t much further.” Peter said, pulling a blanket out of the bag he had been carrying this entire way. He laid it down in a sunny spot that appeared drier than the rest of the flooring, placing the backpack on a nearby rock. “What kind of sandwiches do you like? I made jam, bologna and roast beef because I wasn’t sure if you were allergic to peanuts and I didnt know if you were vegetarian so I figured I would cover all my bases.” His face had gone pink in the cheeks and was almost up to his ears, one of his dark brown curls falling onto his forehead almost into his eye. 

Maybe he wasn’t trying to kill her, she thought with a laugh to herself. “I’m not vegetarian or allergic to peanuts, but I do love me a good jam sandwich.” She held her hand out for a sandwich, while he rustled through the bag. 

“Cool!” He said, handing her one and pulling another out for himself. “I hope it’s alright. Aunt May taught me how to make the one thing she was actually good at which is sandwiches.”

“It’s good,” she said after a bite. “Your aunt taught you well.”

“Thanks.” His smile had grown to encompass his entire face when she had complimented him, and it was a look she liked on him. Not that she liked him, or anything. They were just friends. Friends who had a class together. Classmates! That was it. They were just classmates having a picnic together. 

“Hey? You ok?” He said, looking concerned. She shook her head before nodding, realizing that it might look like she was shaking her head instead of just trying to clear the static out of her brainwaves. 

“Yeah, I am. Sorry.” She said, taking another bite of her sandwich. A light blush dusted her cheeks pink, and he was smiling again. 

“Anyway, I was saying that with the end of term coming up for our class, we should study together. It’s always better to study in pairs. Me and my buddy Ned would do that all the time in highschool.”

“Yeah, that sounds good. When’s the exam anyway?”

And so their conversation revolved around their class. There was surprisingly a lot to talk about, between the professor and the students who didn’t pay attention. They were in the middle of a conversation when Peter moved out of the way of a dive-bombing seagull that went for his cookie, just in time. 

“That was so cool! How did you know that was coming?!” She exclaimed.

“I guess I just have good reflexes,” He said with what looked like a forced smile. His eyes scanned the sky, presumably to see if there were any other birds after his cookies. 

“Maybe we should head back. I would hate to lose these to some hungry birds.” She said, starting to gather their things.

“No! I mean, putting the food away might be a good idea but you shouldn’t leave yet! We shouldn’t leave yet. Not that you have to stay but we should hang out more and…” The words tumbled out of his mouth faster than he could process them clearly. She grinned, remembering their first encounter when she had done the same. 

“This is my first date in a while and I… wait, this is a date right? Unless you don’t want it to be a date but I thought of it as being a date.”

He finally paused to take a breath and look at her but her grin was gone, replaced by a look of confusion. Was this a date? She hadn’t thought it was a date, at least not until he said it, but looking back, it obviously was. He had brought her out, set up a whole picnic in a special place and, oh god… it really was a date. 

She hadn’t been on any dates. Was she acting okay? Did she dress nice enough? If she had known this was a date she would have thrown on something nicer than her old spider-man tank top and frayed jeans. 

Wait. 

Did this mean that he liked her? Why would he like her? She had done nothing but be weird with him since the first time they met. I mean, she had dragged him back to her dorm and left him without a shirt for heaven's sake and oh… Maybe he thought she liked him because of that? What had she gone and gotten herself into now. 

“Peter, I-” 

“Didn’t think this was a date like I did. You thought this was just a friend thing, of course. I should have guessed-”

“Peter, stop. I didn’t think this was a date but that might just be because I’m blind. Most of the girls I’ve been chasing don’t even know I exist, so that just goes to show how great I am when it comes to dating. Besides, first dates are supposed to be super awkward and panicky right? At least we get that out of the way.”

His face went from confused to guardedly happy, but still processing. “So…?”

“So, let’s call this a first date so we can say we got it out of the way, and try again some time?” 

“Yeah…? Yeah! Okay!” He said, his smile spreading over his entire face. 

“But actually though, those seagulls are looking like they’re going to attack again. We should head back.”

“Alright, it’s getting late anyway. We could start studying for the exam if you want?”

“Sure,” she chuckled. So, a date. She was actually on a date. With Peter Parker.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's movie night! and we get to see a bit more of Andy too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm justgoing to throw all the tropes into this story! New chapter will be up on the 17th instead of the 16th as ill be on a flight.

After their “date” things seemed to stagnate again. Peter was awol for another week, missing their last real class before the review for the exam, but Peter didn’t seem too worried when he showed up at her door again that friday night with a bag of popcorn at the ready and his laptop.

“Movie night?” He asked, holding the popcorn out as if it were an olive branch. “That is if you’re free and you want to. I know I haven’t been around much this week.” He looked worried that she actually might say no, but she was getting more and more used to seeing his cute face every time he came around her, when he wasn’t ditching school and what not. 

“Actually I-” she started to say before Andy piped up from behind Peter, their phone nearly glued so close to their face that they missed him entirely. “Okay, so this genius thinks that I’m actually going to put out for him just because he says he respects me and then goes on to ask what I have below the belt.”

Rose gave Peter a look that she hoped said she was sorry, and pulled him into her room before he got bowled over. Andy made their way into the room and plopped down on the bed before even looking up to notice Peter standing awkwardly. They gave him a look, as if scrutinizing him.

“What do you think?” they asked, clearly testing him. 

“Well, uh,” He started, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand as he looked to Rose to save him. “I think you should… tell him off? He obviously doesn’t actually care about anything other than a hook-up. Actions speak louder than words and all that.”

Andy looked at Rose and gave her a smile. “He can stay, but only if he shares the popcorn.” 

Rose let out the breath she hadn’t even known she was holding. Andy rarely approved of people, mostly for the fact that everyone tended to have some sort of prejudice that they fell into, but Peter had passed, for now. 

“You don’t have to stay,” she said to Peter, not wanting him to feel like he had to. 

“If you want me to go so you two can have alone time, that’s fine,” his voice was understanding, but his face showed disappointment. 

“No no, you can stay if you want, right?” she said, turning to Andy. “He said we should have a movie night!” 

Andy’s face instantly brightened. “We haven’t had movie night in ages! You get your nose stuck in a book and then all of a sudden a boy comes along and gives you the time of day and you can take a break?” they said with a pout, but their eyes were teasing. 

“Well, when you make me homemade cookies and take me on picnic dates, then I’ll skip studying for you okay?” 

“Movie night it is then,” Peter said, a blush on his face from the reminder of their first date. He pulled over a small table and propped his laptop on it. “Anything you two want to watch?”

It was a solid fifteen minutes of arguing back and forth about which movie to watch, Rose opting for something animated and light hearted (Big Hero 6) and Andy saying they should watch a horror movie (The Grudge). Rose had a feeling they were doing this on purpose, knowing for a fact that Rose would be watching the movie from between her hands, and Andy loved to play matchmaker. In the end, Andy won. 

They weren’t even a half hour into the movie when her pulse started to race and she started gnawing on the string of her hoodie. Peter looked over momentarily, giving her a questioning look, but she just shook her head, as if to say she was fine (even though she very obviously wasn’t). As the movie went on, she got more and more anxious, Peter looking over with worry every few minutes, that was until she finally couldn’t take it anymore and buried her head into his shoulder after a jumpscare. Peter seemed to be just as tense as she was, but he reached around and put his arm around her. That was where she spent the rest of the movie, face curled into Peter’s chest, his fingers rubbing circles on her back. She was almost upset when it was over, almost. 

Peter got up to put on another movie, and this time they went with Rose’s choice. Andy had sprawled out on the bed, and Peter and Rose had migrated to the floor with a bunch of blankets and pillows. Just as the movie started up, Peter put his arm back where it was, hovering slightly, as if asking permission. Rose simply responded by leaning further into his side, head resting back on his shoulder. 

She wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that, but at some point she remembered shifting and getting more comfortable, her senses becoming overwhelmed with the scent of fresh air, musk, cedar wood, and something chemical that her sleep addled brain couldn’t put her finger on. She felt comfortable, and maybe that was why she managed to spend the entire night on the floor.


End file.
